Murray swats Sousa aside

Andy Murray moved into the third round of the Australian Open with a comfortable 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 victory against the world number 100 João Sousa in the blistering heat of the day.

It was a ruthless display of pure dominance from the third seed, who didn’t face a single break point all match. The Scot served brilliantly throughout, firing down 14 aces and hammering 28 winners past his hapless Portuguese opponent.

If there were any thoughts of an upset before the match they were put to bed right from the off; Murray pummelling forehands to the baseline, forcing the break in the third game. The Portuguese player looked to hit straight back but the US Open champ diverted the danger with a stunning backhand pass, before pouncing again with a love break to forge a 4-1 lead.

The Brit had his foot flat on the pedal and he stormed to the first set after just half an hour on court with some heavy hitting and dominant serving.

And Murray would not relent. After the third seed broke in the opening game of the second set Sousa’s racquet took a beating, as the Portuguese man glanced towards his box with a look of bewilderment. The Scot raced into a 4-0 lead before Sousa finally got on the board, but it proved to be just a minor blip for Murray as he surged two sets ahead with a powerful forehand winner.

The third set proved to be more of a contest, but a break in the opening game was all that was required. Sousa’s form had improved noticeably but any hopes of breaking back were instantly quashed by the serving from the third seed, who was barely breaking a sweat in the 37 degree heat. And as the match crawled past the 100 minute mark, one last error from the Portuguese man would seal Murray’s place in round three, for the loss of just eight games.

In the third round Murray will face 22 year old Ricardas Berankis. The Lithuanian is ranked down at 110 in the world after originally breaking the top 100 back in 2010, but he is not to be taken lightly after his 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 thrashing of the German 25th seed Florian Mayer in the last round.

I must admit I felt a bit sorry for Sousa, and his frustration showed at times, because it wasn't so much that he played badly, just that he was completely outclassed by a very in-form Murray, something which was great to see and gave encouragement for (hopefully) greater things to come.

Great report, enjoyed the match, thought Andy was clinical and got out of the heat as quickly as he could. Hope we have a bit of fairness and see him back in the Rod Laver and an evening match and that Fed get's a hot match around 2pm!!!

The temperature in Melbourne when Fed was playing was just under 40C. Here in Australia his next game against Tomic is attracting massive media attention, lets all hope that Tomic can live up to expectations!

enjoyed the report Luke - thanks. Woke up to hear Andy serving for match on five live. Have recorded it and have half been watching replay this afternoon while doing some work. From his bbc interview, sounds like Andy avoided the worst of the heat by getting job done so efficiently.On replay have seen a couple of shots of Andy's boys - looks like you've all beefed up too this year! And looking very smart, each in your different coloured shorts. You've become quite a feature for the media in their coverage of Andy's AO matches.